Past the half-way mark

Yesterday morning we did our long run.  Our schedule called for 15 miles, which means I have officially made it past the half-way mark!  Last week was 13.1, exactly half-way, so this is the big time now.  It sort of feels like 11 more will be nothing, but at the same time, seems like I can never take another single step after 15.  So, we'll see how that goes.  Last week I also ran 26 miles over the course of 6 days.  Actually, I ran over 26 miles, but not enough to really add it on.
As for the actual marathon, I think the biggest challenge is going to be staying fueled.  On the run yesterday I ate breakfast beforehand, a coffee and belvita.  That's my basic breakfast before every run, so I see no need to change it now.  Usually I can make it at least 6 before starting to feel like I'm slowing down or running low on energy, and yesterday was no different.  It's the next set of miles that always seem to be longer, less fun, more torturous, and I think it's due to the lack of incoming fuel.  I had some gummy bears and some sports beans, but they really don't cut it.  For longer runs, I think I need actual food sources, maybe granola bars or similar.   The thing is, I'm no really sure what to eat and I have no way to carry it with me either.  It's hard enough trying to drink water or eat gummy bears while running, so I can't imagine trying to eat a full granola bar or snack in the middle of a run.  But, I know I have to figure something out, because I need something more for the last miles.  Especially if I have 11 more to go.  I know the marathon itself will have snack stops, but I want to be used to eating light snacks in the middle of a run before I try it for the actual marathon. I think I have some research to do.
In completely unrelated news, we've had an old RCA Victor Victrola stereo sitting in our house since we moved in last year.  It belongs to my father, so we've just kind of been using it as a really large shelf.  This past weekend though I decided to find out if the record player portion actually worked.  Turns out, it does.  So I went back home and got some records and now it's like 1970 all over again in this house.  Here's a photo of some of the records I took, and a link to my Garmin connect for my 15 mile run.

                      
Oh yea, my watch starting telling me my battery was really low at mile 14, so I picked up some speed just to be sure I could finish before the watch died.   Good incentive actually, it brought my pace back up to a 10 minute mile. Also, Adidas has a new shoe out, the Springblade.  They look amazing, but are way out of my price range.  So, if anyone from Adidas ever stumbles upon this blog, feel free to send a pair my way, 7.5 is fine.  I'd be more than happy to test them out and wear them around to all my races/training runs.  As you can see from previous blog entries, I'm a big Adidas fan, so it would totally be worth your time.